


See the sun

by allthingsgray



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Gen, Growing Up, some things change others don't
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-19
Updated: 2016-01-19
Packaged: 2018-05-14 22:22:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,444
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5761087
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/allthingsgray/pseuds/allthingsgray
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Anakin Skywalker meets Padme Naberrie, padawan to Master Dooku and the future has never been so unknown.</p>
            </blockquote>





	See the sun

Padme folded her hands on the tops of her thighs. She felt the presence of her master nearby. 

 

“Padme. I was wondering if you were perhaps hiding from your master.” He felt indulgent although his tone was stern. She opened her eyes and rested them evenly on him with a small smile. “Qui-Gon is arguing the boy’s case.” 

 

She cocked her head carefully. “You do not agree with the Council’s decision.” It was not a question. She couldn’t say she did either, but she also couldn’t say it wasn’t an entirely sound decision. 

 

Jedi Master Dooku inclined his head briefly and sank down beside her with his legs folded. “I do not. The creature we encountered on Tatooine, on Naboo, was a sith. They come in pairs; master and apprentice. It matters not which he was, or that he is dead. There is another in the darkness and leaving the boy beyond the reach of the Order is unwise.” 

 

Padme hummed and turned to look at a group of small children. They were clumsily going through the early stages of kata. “Would...would the sith find him?” She could not voice the rest of the question. Would they kill him? Kidnap him? Turn him into a weapon like the zabrak they had fought, the one Obi-Wan had ended? 

 

“I fear they may. He would be powerful, untrained, vulnerable and his impression of the jedi would not be unbiased. He is already aware that he is a danger. A threat. He would undoubtedly be seen as being rejected, cast out without cause.” He sighed. “If he is left to his own devices...I believe it would be easy prey for the sith.” 

 

Padme was quiet for a long moment. “I’ve never felt so afraid before.” 

 

It had been a terrible thing to realize in the heat of battle. Obi-Wan and she had been separated from their masters when the sith had chosen to follow the padawans instead, likely to pick off the weakest of their group. 

 

He had come for her first. 

 

_ The dual saber hummed and its red light cast dark shadows across the tattooed face that grinned at her. Padme ignited her own white saber and adjusted her stance. She’d seen him fight Master Qui-Gon back on Tatooine. He had been aggressive, strong, predatory. He had overwhelmed him with an ease that had unnerved everyone.  _

 

_ And he was here before her. He appraised her coldly as a predator would its prey from a distance. He cocked his head and stalked forward slowly. He spun his saber with ease and his strides became gradually lengthier, quicker, and then he was running full tilt.  _

 

There is no emotion, there is peace. _ Padme recited to herself and slunk lower into a Shii-Cho stance, sliding her left foot back. She felt for the bond she shared with her master, rummaging for it like a lifeline and tugged urgently. The sith was almost upon her.  _

 

_ Master Dooku did not answer - engaged in battle or incapacitated or blocked from her somehow - and so when the sith leapt into the air and came down on her readied saber, it shook her knees enough that she was forced to drop to one. He pressed his advantage, snarling in her face and forcing her to bend backward. _

 

_ Angling her saber near his hands, the heat of it caused him to hiss and it gave her enough reprieve to roll away, lashing out with her saber to force him to keep his distance. He laughed and licked his teeth, prowling in a half circle around her. And she felt it.  _

 

_ She had never felt it before. Not during her training, not during other missions, not even the time she had fallen through the ice and Dooku had had to fish her out. But she felt it now, with such great intensity that she felt galvanized, speared through with it. Fear.  _

 

No, no, no. Fear is of the dark side. There is no emotion, there is peace there is no emotion there is peace _. Her quickly panicking mind tried banishing the feeling but gazing at the sith, creature of despair and pain and untold darkness, it felt the only appropriate response. He would end her. He would kill her. No one would hear her scream but her master would feel her die, torn apart by this nemesis.  _

 

_ It was a poison, flooding her veins and attacking her mind, her heart, her body, her very presence in the Force. It seeped like an infected wound. And the sith seemed to sense it all too well. His yellow eyes glittered. He could sense her fear. Feel it even.  _

 

_ “Are you afraid, jedi-child?” He murmured darkly as he came closer, flourishing his blades.  _

 

_ He moved too quickly for her to follow. He was going to cut her down and enjoy it. Padme forced herself to move, trying to fight off the fear that filled her to the brim and she moved back, trying to keep distance between them but keep his attention on her and not on the trail of the Queen’s security force. He moved in for another charged strike and Padme tried to ready herself but then Obi-Wan was there between them. His blue saber crackled as it met red and he held position in front of her. “Padme!” He called out with strain clear in his voice. “Run!”  _

 

_ Padme moved back quickly, away from her fellow padawan and the sith.  _

 

_ The sounds of battle carried on. At one point it looked as though Obi-Wan was going to lose, hanging precariously from a broken nub of the shaft. Padme threw her saber close to the shaft and managed to draw the sith’s immediate attention for a moment with a discarded blaster and as he advanced, sneer on his face while she fired and the shots were swatted away, Obi-Wan flung himself up and grabbed her saber as it rolled off - parry, dodge slash, slice - and then the surprised looking sith fell in two _ .  _ Obi-Wan met her gaze with not a little disbelief, clutching her white saber and sent a hasty, sincere wave of comfort to her. She latched on to it with gratitude and let her own relief hang in the air around them.  _

 

Dooku cleared his throat. “It is good that you have felt it in such intensity, Padme. You know what it does. How it feels. You know of the danger is can bring. And you will know now how to turn it aside.” 

 

Padme felt like a little girl as she twisted her fingers in her tunic. “I...I am unsure, Master Dooku. I didn’t overcome it. Obi-Wan was there in time.”

 

Dooku gazed at her with knowing eyes. “I know, padawan. You were able to adjust after the fact, enough to draw the sith’s attention from Obi-Wan to help. You were able to defend yourself until help arrived. You cannot overlook these accomplishments. And if fear were so easy to overcome there would be no sith.” 

 

Padme bowed her head. “I shall mind my lessons, Master.” 

 

Dooku made an agreeable noise from the back of his throat and closed his eyes. “If the boy will be trained, I must ask you a favor, Padme.” 

 

“Master?” Usually when her master requested a favor from her, it involved something tricky or unpleasant. Or both. Like hunting down a thief in a cavern full of mynocks while he dealt with the local crime lords. 

 

“Anakin Skywalker. He knows of attachment and the world beyond ours. This is the only world you’ve known. Aid him. He will need guidance beyond what Qui-Gon will be able to give him. Youthful guidance.” 

 

Padme blinked. “Our ages are rather different, Master. And...forgive me for assuming, but this seems like a lot of responsibility to entrust to another padawan.” 

 

Dooku nodded slowly. “You are both young yet. It will be good for both of you. You cannot know only of the jedi, knowledge should be looked for outside the Order as well. And Anakin has lived outside the Order - it will be an adjustment that you will need to see him through.” And finally her master turned to her with a small smile she couldn’t read. “And you are the best choice. He is fond of you. He trusts you. He is wary of everyone here, likely due to his upbringing. But you, he trusted from the moment he saw you.” Padme nodded and looked away briefly, uncomfortable with the memory of the boy calling her an angel and declaring that one day she'd be his wife. Her master would not invade her memories as such but clearly he suspected something from the boy, could read it. Dooku rose then. “The Council has convened. I need to see Qui-Gon. Finish your lessons and meditation, Padme.”

 

Padme watched her master leave and felt a prickle on the back of her neck. Slowly she turned her face to see young Anakin simply watching her from a bench near the Fountains. She wondered how long he had been there, watching she and Dooku, and wondered if he'd heard. 

  
  
  
  


 

Dooku’s cloak billowed around him as he made his way to his former padawan. Qui-Gon remained outside the Council rooms with his arms folded and a look of concentration - and disappointment on his face. Grimly, the former noble anticipated the worst. 

 

“Qui-Gon.” He called. 

 

“Master Dooku.” The long haired jedi tipped his head at him in recognition. “I should have known you’d be stopping by.” He smiled at the older man fondly. 

 

Dooku took up a standing post beside Qui-Gon. “Of course. We were both concerned for the boy’s future. And I wished to ask you after your own padawan.” 

 

“Obi-Wan is no longer my padawan. He is a knight now.” Qui-Gon’s smile was a bit dimmer but the pride in his voice was unmistakable. 

 

_ Ah, Qui-Gon. You were never one for disavowing attachment _ . Dooku nodded. “Well deserved. He faced off against a sith, saved Padme, and showed incredibly strength of will during this mission.” 

 

“Yes. I thought it was time. Meeting Anakin cleared away any doubts.” 

 

“You believe you were lead to the boy to become his Master?” Dooku asked. Qui-Gon was already heavily invested in the boy for reasons similar but different from his own. He himself didn’t care for the mysticism of visions or prophecies. Both had a tendency to be too easily misinterpreted and manipulated. 

 

Qui-Gon nodded firmly. “I believe we were led to him not only to gain his aid, but to train him to become a jedi.” 

 

“If the Council will have him.” Dooku gave him a pointed look. 

 

Qui-Gon looked slightly doubtful. “Yes. I had thought that perhaps his presence would be better received after the Battle of Naboo, but it seems that some of the Council has voiced their disagreement with training the boy.” 

 

Dooku knew who. Besides Yoda who sensed the storm cloud that perpetually followed young Anakin, Mace Windu and Ki-Adi Mundi did not seem keen on the idea of the boy becoming a jedi. Unpredictable. Too old, and what’s more, he knew a life built in hardship, strife and misery. He could understand their hesitancy on the matter but it had reached a level of ridiculousness since the sith had shown himself. 

 

To not train him would be leaving a lamb out for slaughter. Someone, a fallen one, a sith, a renegade or those of neither persuasion would find him. They would be lured by the promise of power and untapped potential. 

 

Out of their grasp, Anakin Skywalker was a far deadlier threat. 

 

“It seems cruel that I freed him, took him from his mother who I could not free, only to have the Council question him so.” Qui-Gon’s brows drew together. “I fear I may have done him wrong, Master Dooku.” 

 

“The wrong done would have been to know his presence there, and let the sith find him. Regardless of what the Council may think, he was only safe for so long on Tatooine because it was on the Outer Rim and stomping grounds of the Hutts. How much longer would he have been safe, if we had not spirited him away? The sith come in pairs and they are drawn to power like flies to honey. He would have been discovered eventually and then he truly would be a threat to the Order.” Dooku could only imagine what the boy would become if he’d been immersed in the dark side. If the sith had found him first. Great and terrible like a tsunami. Awesome power crushing everything beneath it. No. The boy had to stay. 

 

“This is why it’s difficult to hear the Council so torn over it. I had thought his midichlorian count alone would be enough to welcome him in the Order. The way he so naturally uses the Force - I would have thought it would have sufficed.” Qui-Gon’s frustration showed in his voice although his face was carefully blank. 

 

“There are many unknown variables.  _ He  _ is an unknown variable.” Dooku looked out beyond the corridor to see his current padawan being approached by young Anakin. “He is angry, and fearful and prone to attachment. It is dangerous.” 

 

Padme smiled and patted the space beside her. Anakin sat close to her in a similar position. He mimicked her hands and closed his eyes after she did though his gaze lingered. 

 

“I’m sensing a ‘but’ in there, Master Dooku.” Qui-Gon smirked at his former master. 

 

“But. All these things can be contained. He needs special guidance. Chosen One or not. He has a naturally volatile personality with a strong affinity for the Force - I can think of nothing more dangerous.” Dooku watched Anakin attempt to meditate beside Padme although his Force signature was vibrating with the need to spend energy somehow. To watch the two together was to watch a calm pond with a blazing sun overhead. He kept his gaze in their general direction and allowed most of his focus to follow their signatures, nonchalantly he added, “Animal trainers will sometimes put a nervous animal with a more docile, calmer animal. Often older. The nervous animal will see that the calm one does not fear the trainers or the enclosure and will follow suit.” 

 

“The boy is not an animal.” Qui-Gon said, nearly reproachful. 

 

Padme reached out through the Force to delicately touch upon the younger boy. The energy buzzing in him did not die down but it seemed to focus itself. Not quite meditation, but it was an improvement. 

 

Dooku broke off the concentration to smile at his old padawan. “No. But the idea has its merits.” 


End file.
